For Real
Encyclopedia
For Real was an American
R&B
and soul
quartet, that formed in 1993. In the latter part of that decade they were nominated for a Grammy
, Billboard Music Award
, and Soul Train Music Award.
by accident. "We were picking up our manager from the airport. So we decided to greet him with an acappella song. Someone from A&M records just happened to be in the airport and heard them perform. Not long after, they were signed," said Latanyia Baldwin.
The band released their debut album
, It's a Natural Thang
, with production from Brian McKnight
on A&M Records
in 1994, and it became a critical success, including a rare four stars from Rolling Stone Magazine. Their first single
, "You Don't Wanna Miss" hit #28 on the Billboard
chart
, courtesy of a danceable new jack swing
remix by Steve "Silk" Hurley, which was featured in the song's video
. A second single, "Easy To Love," peaked at #65 on the Billboard Hot 100
chart. The album scored another chart hit with the a cappella
love song, "You Don't Know Nothin'," which was written and produced by Mervyn Warren
, and which peaked at #27. The song peaked at #54 in the UK Singles Chart
in July 1995. The album sold over one million copies worldwide, and peaked at #80 on the Billboard 200
.
In 1995, the band appeared in Italian
Vogue
, modeling mens suits. They toured alongside Stevie Wonder
, and lent their voices to the Martin Scorsese
film project Grace of My Heart. The foursome also forayed into acting with appearances in the film Shake, Rattle and Rock! starring Renée Zellweger
and Howie Mandel
on Showtime.
They also hit the US Top 20 with the single "Freedom (Theme from Panther)" featuring Aaliyah
, TLC, En Vogue
, BlackGirl
, SWV
, and Vanessa Williams
from the movie Panther. They also recorded a duet with Stevie Wonder
called "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow", which appeared on the Marvin Gaye
tribute album
, Inner City Blues: The Music Of Marvin Gaye. For Real also recorded songs for the soundtracks of the films Waiting to Exhale
and Fled respectively.
After a label change from A&M to Dallas Austin's Arista
imprint Rowdy Records
in 1996, For Real struck again with the Austin
-produced, 60s-leaning single "Like I Do," from their second album Free
. "Like I Do" hit #10 on the Billboard singles chart, the video also earned a Billboard nomination for Best R&B Clip, the album made the Top 100, and nearly 400,000 copies in the US, the album's next and last single was the Diane Warren
-penned pop ballad "The Saddest Song I Ever Heard" which hit #65 on the Top 100 singles chart. The band performed "Saddest Song" on the TV show All That
. Free included production from top R&B/pop producers like Babyface, Mario Winans
, and Jon B.
The band also recorded three songs ("I Do", "Born to Love That Boy" and "Unwanted Number") and appeared in the critically acclaimed film Grace of My Heart
. The films soundstrack won a Satellite Award in 1997.
In January 1997, the band won an American Music Award for their work on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, in Summer 1997, the group earned a Soul Train Award nomination for Album Of The Year (By A Group, Band Or Duo) for "Free".
In 1999, Wendi Williams lent her voice to the Emmy winning film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
, with Halle Berry
, in which Berry plays a singer but Williams is behind her singing voice.
In 2002, their song "Love Will Be Waiting At Home", appeared in the movie, Two Can Play That Game
, that starred Vivica A. Fox
and Morris Chestnut
.
In 2009, CoryLavel began to work with Josina Elder on her new album.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
R&B
Contemporary R&B
Contemporary R&B is a music genre that combines elements of hip hop, soul, R&B and funk.Although the abbreviation “R&B” originates from traditional rhythm and blues music, today the term R&B is most often used to describe a style of African American music originating after the demise of disco in...
and soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
quartet, that formed in 1993. In the latter part of that decade they were nominated for a Grammy
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, Billboard Music Award
Billboard Music Award
The Billboard Music Award is an honor given by Billboard magazine, the preeminent publication covering the music business. The Billboard Music Awards show had been held annually in December until it went dormant in 2007, but it returned in May 2011...
, and Soul Train Music Award.
Biography
For Real secured their recording contractRecording contract
A recording contract is a legal agreement between a record label and a recording artist , where the artist makes a record for the label to sell and promote...
by accident. "We were picking up our manager from the airport. So we decided to greet him with an acappella song. Someone from A&M records just happened to be in the airport and heard them perform. Not long after, they were signed," said Latanyia Baldwin.
The band released their debut album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...
, It's a Natural Thang
It's a Natural Thang
It's a Natural Thang is the first album by R&B group For Real, released in 1994 .-Track listing:#"Easy to Love" - 4:35#"Where Did Your Love Go?" - 4:42...
, with production from Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight
Brian McKnight is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, producer, and R&B/Pop musician. He is a multi-instrumentalist who plays nine instruments: piano, guitar, bass guitar, drums, percussions, trombone, tuba, flugelhorn and trumpet....
on A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
in 1994, and it became a critical success, including a rare four stars from Rolling Stone Magazine. Their first single
Single (music)
In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a recording of fewer tracks than an LP or a CD. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats. In most cases, the single is a song that is released separately from an album, but it can still appear...
, "You Don't Wanna Miss" hit #28 on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
chart
Record chart
A record chart is a ranking of recorded music according to popularity during a given period of time. Examples of music charts are the Hit parade, Hot 100 or Top 40....
, courtesy of a danceable new jack swing
New jack swing
New jack swing or swingbeat is a fusion genre spearheaded by Teddy Riley and Bernard Belle which became extremely popular from the late-1980s into the mid-1990s. Its influence, along with hip-hop, seeped into pop culture and was the definitive sound of the inventive Black New York club scene...
remix by Steve "Silk" Hurley, which was featured in the song's video
Music video
A music video or song video is a short film integrating a song and imagery, produced for promotional or artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a marketing device intended to promote the sale of music recordings...
. A second single, "Easy To Love," peaked at #65 on the Billboard Hot 100
Billboard Hot 100
The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday...
chart. The album scored another chart hit with the a cappella
A cappella
A cappella music is specifically solo or group singing without instrumental sound, or a piece intended to be performed in this way. It is the opposite of cantata, which is accompanied singing. A cappella was originally intended to differentiate between Renaissance polyphony and Baroque concertato...
love song, "You Don't Know Nothin'," which was written and produced by Mervyn Warren
Mervyn Warren
Mervyn Edwin Warren is an American film composer, record producer, music conductor, music arranger, lyricist, songwriter, pianist, and vocalist. Warren is a five-time Grammy Award winner and a 10-time Grammy Award nominee...
, and which peaked at #27. The song peaked at #54 in the UK Singles Chart
UK Singles Chart
The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
in July 1995. The album sold over one million copies worldwide, and peaked at #80 on the Billboard 200
Billboard 200
The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists...
.
In 1995, the band appeared in Italian
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
Vogue
Vogue (magazine)
Vogue is a fashion and lifestyle magazine that is published monthly in 18 national and one regional edition by Condé Nast.-History:In 1892 Arthur Turnure founded Vogue as a weekly publication in the United States. When he died in 1909, Condé Montrose Nast picked up the magazine and slowly began...
, modeling mens suits. They toured alongside Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
, and lent their voices to the Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese
Martin Charles Scorsese is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, actor, and film historian. In 1990 he founded The Film Foundation, a nonprofit organization dedicated to film preservation, and in 2007 he founded the World Cinema Foundation...
film project Grace of My Heart. The foursome also forayed into acting with appearances in the film Shake, Rattle and Rock! starring Renée Zellweger
Renée Zellweger
Renée Kathleen Zellweger is an American actress and producer. Zellweger first gained widespread attention for her role in the film Jerry Maguire , and subsequently received two nominations for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her roles as Bridget Jones in the comedy Bridget Jones's Diary ...
and Howie Mandel
Howie Mandel
Howard Michael "Howie" Mandel is a Canadian stand-up comedian, television host, and actor. He is well known as host of the NBC game show Deal or No Deal, as well as the show's daytime and Canadian-English counterparts. Before his career as a game show host, Mandel was best known for his role on...
on Showtime.
They also hit the US Top 20 with the single "Freedom (Theme from Panther)" featuring Aaliyah
Aaliyah
Aaliyah Dana Haughton , who performed under the mononym Aaliyah , was an American R&B recording artist, actress and model. She was born in Brooklyn, New York, and was raised in Detroit, Michigan. At the age of 10, she appeared on the television show Star Search and performed in concert alongside...
, TLC, En Vogue
En Vogue
En Vogue is an American female R&B vocal group from Oakland, California assembled by music producers Denzil Foster and Thomas McElroy.The group has won more MTV Video Music Awards than any other female group in MTV history, a total of seven, along with four Soul Train Awards, six American Music...
, BlackGirl
BlackGirl
BlackGirl was a R&B/dance vocal trio consisting of Pam Copeland, Nycolia "Tye-V" Turman, and Rochelle Stuart from Atlanta, that formed in 1992 on the Kaper/RCA/BMG label.-Biography:...
, SWV
SWV
Sisters with Voices, better known as SWV, is an American female R&B trio from New York. Formed in 1990 as a gospel group, SWV became one of the most successful R&B groups of the 1990s. They had a series of hits, including "Weak", "Right Here/Human Nature", "I'm So Into You", and "You're the One"....
, and Vanessa Williams
Vanessa L. Williams
Vanessa Lynn Williams is an American pop-R&B recording artist, producer, dancer, model, actress and showgirl. In 1983, she became the first woman of African-American descent to be crowned Miss America, but a scandal generated by her having posed for nude photographs published in Penthouse magazine...
from the movie Panther. They also recorded a duet with Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris , better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist...
called "Stubborn Kind Of Fellow", which appeared on the Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr. , better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a three-octave vocal range....
tribute album
Tribute album
A tribute album is a recorded collection of cover versions of songs or instrumental compositions. Its concept may be either various artists making a tribute to a single artist, a single artist making a tribute to various artists, or a single artist making a tribute to another single artist.There...
, Inner City Blues: The Music Of Marvin Gaye. For Real also recorded songs for the soundtracks of the films Waiting to Exhale
Waiting to Exhale
Waiting to Exhale is a 1995 romance film starring Whitney Houston and Angela Bassett, directed by Forest Whitaker. The movie was adapted from the 1992 novel of the same name by Terry McMillan. Loretta Devine, Lela Rochon, Dennis Haysbert, Michael Beach, Gregory Hines, Donald Faison and Mykelti...
and Fled respectively.
After a label change from A&M to Dallas Austin's Arista
Arista Records
Arista was an American record label. It was a wholly owned subsidiary of Sony Music Entertainment and operated under the RCA Music Group. The label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records...
imprint Rowdy Records
Rowdy Records
Rowdy Records is a record label, distributed through Motown Records.-History:Formed in 1992 by producers Dallas Austin and L.A. Reid, Rowdy was initially distributed through Arista Records. At the time, Austin had gained notoriety for writing and producing hits for acts like Monica, Another Bad...
in 1996, For Real struck again with the Austin
Dallas Austin
Dallas Austin is an American songwriter, record producer, and musician, based in Atlanta, Georgia. Some of his most notable clients include Michael Jackson, TLC, Boyz II Men, Pink, Monica, Madonna, Gwen Stefani, Stacie Orrico, Another Bad Creation, Fishbone, Sugababes, Anastacia, Namie Amuro, Kim...
-produced, 60s-leaning single "Like I Do," from their second album Free
Free (For Real album)
Free is the second album by R&B group For Real, released in 1996 .-Track listing:#"Intro" - 0:55#"Like I Do" - 4:06#"Good Morning Sunshine" - 4:13#"Hold Me" - 3:56#"So in Love" - 4:20#"Remember" - 4:23...
. "Like I Do" hit #10 on the Billboard singles chart, the video also earned a Billboard nomination for Best R&B Clip, the album made the Top 100, and nearly 400,000 copies in the US, the album's next and last single was the Diane Warren
Diane Warren
Diane Eve Warren , is a US songwriter. Her songs have received six Academy Award nominations, five Golden Globe nominations, including one win and seven Grammy Award nominations, including one win. She was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2001...
-penned pop ballad "The Saddest Song I Ever Heard" which hit #65 on the Top 100 singles chart. The band performed "Saddest Song" on the TV show All That
All That
All That is an American live-action, sketch comedy-variety show that aired on the Nickelodeon cable television network featuring short comedic sketches and weekly musical guests. The theme song for All That was performed by TLC...
. Free included production from top R&B/pop producers like Babyface, Mario Winans
Mario Winans
Mario Winans is an American R&B singer, songwriter, music producer, and multi-instrumentalist. Born Mario Brown, he is the son of gospel recording artist Vickie Winans and her first husband, Bishop Ronald Brown. He is also the stepson of his mother's second husband, gospel singer, Pastor Marvin...
, and Jon B.
The band also recorded three songs ("I Do", "Born to Love That Boy" and "Unwanted Number") and appeared in the critically acclaimed film Grace of My Heart
Grace of My Heart
Grace of My Heart is a 1996 film written and directed by Allison Anders, set in the pop music world, starting off in New York's Brill Building early 1960s era, weaving through the California Sound of the mid '60s and culminating with the adult-contemporary scene of the early 1970s.The plot follows...
. The films soundstrack won a Satellite Award in 1997.
In January 1997, the band won an American Music Award for their work on the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack, in Summer 1997, the group earned a Soul Train Award nomination for Album Of The Year (By A Group, Band Or Duo) for "Free".
In 1999, Wendi Williams lent her voice to the Emmy winning film Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge is a television film directed by Martha Coolidge. Filmed over a span of a few weeks in early 1998, the film was aired in the United States on August 21, 1999. The original music score was composed by Elmer Bernstein. The film is marketed with the tagline: "Right woman....
, with Halle Berry
Halle Berry
Halle Berry is an American actress and a former fashion model. Berry received an Emmy, Golden Globe, SAG, and an NAACP Image Award for Introducing Dorothy Dandridge and won an Academy Award for Best Actress and was nominated for a BAFTA Award in 2001 for her performance in Monster's Ball, becoming...
, in which Berry plays a singer but Williams is behind her singing voice.
In 2002, their song "Love Will Be Waiting At Home", appeared in the movie, Two Can Play That Game
Two Can Play That Game
Two Can Play That Game is a 2001 romantic comedy film written and directed by Mark Brown. The film stars Vivica A. Fox, Morris Chestnut, and Anthony Anderson.-Plot:...
, that starred Vivica A. Fox
Vivica A. Fox
Vivica Anjanetta Fox is an American actress and television producer. She is best known for her roles in the films Independence Day, Set It Off, Soul Food, Why Do Fools Fall In Love,Kill Bill and Juwanna Mann....
and Morris Chestnut
Morris Chestnut
Morris L. Chestnut is an American film and television actor. He is known for his roles as teenage father Ricky Baker in the 1991 film Boyz n the Hood, groom-to-be Lance Sullivan in the 1999 film The Best Man, as Tracy Reynolds, NBA star in the 2002 film Like Mike, and as the Visitor Ryan in the...
.
In 2009, CoryLavel began to work with Josina Elder on her new album.
Discography
- It's a Natural ThangIt's a Natural ThangIt's a Natural Thang is the first album by R&B group For Real, released in 1994 .-Track listing:#"Easy to Love" - 4:35#"Where Did Your Love Go?" - 4:42...
(1994) - FreeFree (For Real album)Free is the second album by R&B group For Real, released in 1996 .-Track listing:#"Intro" - 0:55#"Like I Do" - 4:06#"Good Morning Sunshine" - 4:13#"Hold Me" - 3:56#"So in Love" - 4:20#"Remember" - 4:23...
(1996)
Awards and nominations
| Year | Result | Award | Category | Work |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Nominated | Grammy Award Grammy Award A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry... |
Album of the Year | |
| 1997 | Nominated | Billboard Music Award Billboard Music Award The Billboard Music Award is an honor given by Billboard magazine, the preeminent publication covering the music business. The Billboard Music Awards show had been held annually in December until it went dormant in 2007, but it returned in May 2011... |
Best Clip - R&B | |
| 1998 | Nominated | Soul Train Music Award | Album of the Year (By a Group, Band or Duo) | |
External links
- SingingFool.com Streaming music videos for "Like I Do" and "The Saddest Song I Ever Heard"
- Allmusic Discography, biographies, and pictures
- IUMA Group photos, lyrics, message board, audio streams, and bio.
- Google Album info, photos, and lyrics